An enthusiastic teacher turned librarian turned technology services support agent, I have a diverse background and broad interests. While primarily working with web technology, I have interests in general computing and technology, instruction, accessibility, information management, technical services and metadata, among others.
I am always on the look out to improve existing services and implement new ones. While not a programmer, I like to learn and I am not afraid to work with code. My methodology is very much user oriented in all my projects and work (at least as much as possible), and my aim is to improve the user experience for both the end-user and content creators.
Through the local library association, I mentor as part of the BCLA Mentorship program, which is a one-on-one professional mentorship program, mostly helping students and younger professionals with their applications, interviews, and professional development.
I am also a proud mentor as part of Canada Learning Code (formerly, Ladies Learning Code), a non-profit that holds technology workshops. Mostly, I volunteer for HTML/CSS, web design, WordPress, and Teachers Learning Code, but also Photoshop and Hack-a-thon workshops.
Last but not least, I help with organizing conferences and workshops whenever and wherever I can (see the list below).
You can follow me on twitter or find me elsewhere through about.me.
Current Employment
Support Engineer, Application Support Focus(formerly Senior Support Agent) at GitLab (2018 – Present)
- Engage with team members and customers, answering questions, troubleshooting, resolving problems, and triaging issues, including maintaining good ticket performance and satisfaction.
- Collaborate with engineers and the GitLab Community to get bugs fixed and features added.
- Create or update documentation for internal processes, and for the GitLab product.
- Build and iterate efficient processes for the Support team.
- Understand and debug SaaS product at an expert level.
- Mentor and train other agents to become Senior Support Agents.
- Assist in hiring and onboarding of team members.
- Liaise with other teams to collaboratively improve the software, processes, and user relations.
I also freelance and consult in various areas as time permits, including
- accessibility,
- web services,
- user experience,
- metadata and technical services,
- automation and workflow,
- documentation and technical writing,
- and project management.
Most Recent Employment
- Accessibility Consultant: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Report for City of Gulfport, Florida (2018)
- Manager of Technology and Technical Services at the New Westminster Public Library (2016 – 2018)
- Oversaw day-to-day operations in technical services, technology, and assist in other areas.
- Managed acquisitions for library collections including e-resources.
- Managed vendor relationships and contracts related to technology, technical services, and acquisitions.
- Ensured cataloguing and classification of materials balanced industry standards with the needs of library users.
- Managed public facing technology overall.
- Liaised with City IT staff regarding technology used in the library.
- Made recommendations to the Leadership Team regarding the need for emerging hardware, software, and technology services for the public.
- Managed and administered the library’s integrated library system.
- Coordinated and managed reports and statistics relating to technology and technical services, or originating from the ILS.
- Content Coordinator, for the National Network of Equitable Library Service at the BC Libraries Cooperative (2014 – 2016)
- Coordinated (and improved) the content processes and production of accessible formats, including copyright clearance.
- Assisted with negotiating licenses and purchases for existing collections of accessible content.
- Assisted with making partnerships with other accessible content producers to share collections and resources.
- Assisted with CMS administration and web development as needed.
- Managed metadata, cataloguing, and ingestion of produced and contributed titles and collections.
- Trained staff, both in-person and at a distance, and provided resources on producing accessible formats, and managing content in NNELS.
- Researched answers to legal questions in regards to accessible format production and distribution.
- Supervised students and contract workers assisting with production.
- Web Accessibility Consultant, for Support Students with Disabilities website at Justice Institute of British Columbia (JISC) (2016)
- Worked with staff to ensure accessibility guidelines are met.
- Provided reports and possible solutions to accessibility issues.
- Provided training and resources on accessibility, particularly creating content and documents.
- Other professional experience includes website redesign/development, user studies/user experience, accessible digital and physical materials, supervision, collaborative software (namely wiki) implementation and administration, information management, reporting, research, planning, collection management, reference, and instruction.
- Other previous experience include teaching, research support, tutoring, office/clerical support, and customer service.
Current and Recent Volunteering
- Peer Reviewer, Journal of Web Librarianship (2019)
- Program Committee, Code4Lib Conference (2015, 2017-2019)
- Organizer, Code4LibBC (2013 – 2018)
- Program Peer Reviewer, Access Conference (2012 – 2018)
- Volunteer Mentor, Canada Learning Code (previously, Ladies Learning Code) various workshops including HTML & CSS, Web Design , WordPress, Hack sessions (2012 – Present)
- Mentor, BCLA Mentorship Program (2013 – 2019)
- Mentor, UBC Online Career Mentor (via Ten Thousand Coffees) (2018 – Present)
- Mentor, Visible Minority Librarians of Canada (ViMLoC) Network Mentorship Program (2018)
Recent Presentations & Articles
- Code4libBC (November 2018): Learn to Collaborate and Contribute to Projects on GitLab + with Git! Workshop
- Education Institute (October 2018): Evaluating Your Website for Accessibility Compliance and WCAG 2.1
- Cowichan WordPress Meetup (August 2018): Making Accessible Content and Websites in WordPress
- Florida Library Webinars (August 2018): Auditing Your Website for Accessibility Compliance and Understanding How ADA Applies
- Code4LibBC 2017 (December 2017): Code4lib(BC): What It’s All About
- Weave Journal of Library User Experience, Issue 7 (October 2017): A Practical Guide to Improving Web Accessibility
- University of British Columbia, School of Library, Archives, and Information Studies, ePortfolio: Interview on benefits to an online portfolio (September 2017)
- Education Institution (September 2017 webinar): Reviewing and Improving Workflow and Productivity
- Code4Lib Journal, Issue 37 (July 2017): A Practical Starter Guide on Developing Accessible Websites
Selection of Presentations & Articles
My previous presentations and articles cover accessibility, web technology, library services, managing projects and teams, and work/community culture. Since continually adding to the list will get too long, a selection of all blog posts and externally published work is below, broken down by topic, then in chronological order:
(Web) Design, Development, User Experience & Usability
- Website Redesign: Making It Responsive & Phased Homepage Redesign (NNELS, 2015-2016)
- Code4Lib BC Spring Workshop (May 2014): Usability On a Budget
- Accessible WordPress TwentyTwelve Child Theme & Update (CAPER-BC, 2014)
- Wiki: Move & Content Reorganization (CAPER-BC, 2013)
- TRY Conference 2013: RULA Bookfinder: Getting People to their Books Fast! – Project 2013 Winner of the CLA/OCLC Award for Innovative Technology
- A Revision & Webpage Redesign: Help Section, Articles Section, Digital Commons Home Page, About Us Section, Services Section, Contact Us Page (Ryerson, 2012-2013)
- Creating a WordPress Theme Options Page (Ryerson, 2012)
- UBC Education Library Redesign (Assignment, 2011)
- Help Portal [Content Analysis Statistics, Draft IA, Card Sort, Launch, Timeline] (UBC, 2010-2011)
Accessibility
- Write the Docs (May 2017): Write the Accessible Docs Lightning Talk
- Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) (March 2016): Making Accessible Content Easy and Part of Your Work
- LIBR 2411: Library Technologies and Information Management at Langara College (October 2015 guest lecture): Accessibility is About Your Users
- Accessible Format Production: Overview, Part 1 & Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 (NNELS, 2015)
- Accessible Formats Overview (NNELS, 2015)
- Persona work for the BC Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit (February 2015)
- University of Pittsburgh (February 2015 webinar): Making Accessible Content Easy and Part of Your Work
- Access 2014 (October): We’re All Disabled! Part 2: Building Accessible (Web) Services with Universal Design
- LibUX Podcast (September 2014): Episode 14 on Accessibility
- LibTechConf 2014 (March): We Are All Disabled! Universal Web Design Making Web Services Accessible for Everyone
- ACRL TechConnect (October 2012): Making Your Website Accessible Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 (WCAG focused)
Project Management & Workflow
- Implementing a “Nearly Limitless” Circulation Pilot and Adding an “Express TV” Collection (NWPL, 2017)
- Florida Library Webinars (March 2017): Reviewing and Improving Workflow and Productivity: Methods and Tools
- Code4LibBC 2016 (December 2016): Getting Things Done: Discovering Efficiencies in Workflow
- Workflow Review Rationale (NWPL, 2017)
- Issue Tracker (Redmine) Implementation & Uptake (Ryerson, 2013)
- Getting Staff on Board and Moved to WordPress (Ryerson, 2012)
Other Technical Services, Library Collections, & Metadata
- Horizon ILS Administration: Creating Custom Reports, Circulation Rules, & Learning to be an ILS Administrator (NWPL, 2017)
- Code4LibBC 2015 (November): Semi-Automated Editing Metadata and MARC Records
- Merging Control Numbers into MARC Records (NNELS, 2015)
- Using Regex in MarcEdit to Fix Repeated Subfields (NNELS, 2015)
Work/Community Culture & Similar
- BCLA Perspectives Vol. 7 Issue 1 (November 2015): Code4Lib is for you, for me, for everyone
- The Pastry Box Project October 1, 2015: Better Than Christmas Morning: Finding Your Motivation
- The Pastry Box Project September 21, 2015: A Community Supported on Obsolete Technology
Education
I finished my Master’s in Library and Information Studies (MLIS) at the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies (SLAIS) in December 2011 and graduated in May 2012.
Previously, I completed a Bachelor of Arts in English and Psychology, then a Bachelor of Education, but began as a student in Software Engineering and Mathematics (at what is now SFU Surrey, but used to be TechBC).
Current Professional Affiliations
- Member of, volunteer at, and organizer of various events relating to Code4Lib including Code4libBC and founder of Code4libToronto (2010 – Present)
- Member of BCLA and BCCATS (2009 – Present)
- Member of Golden Key International Honour Society (since 2002)